Almost all terrestrial plants produce green leaf volatiles (GLVs), consisting of six-carbon (C6) aldehydes, alcohols and their esters, after mechanical wounding. C6 aldehydes deter enemies, but C6 alcohols and esters are rather inert. In this study, we address why the ability to produce various GLVs in wounded plant tissues has been conserved in the plant kingdom. The major product in completely disrupted Arabidopsis leaf tissues was (Z)-3-hexenal, while (Z)-3-hexenol and (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate were the main products formed in the intact parts of partially wounded leaves. (13)C-labeled C6 aldehydes placed on the disrupted part of a wounded leaf diffused into neighboring intact tissues and were reduced to C6 alcohols. The reduction of the aldehydes to alcohols was catalyzed by an NADPH-dependent reductase. When NADPH was supplemented to disrupted tissues, C6 aldehydes were reduced to C6 alcohols, indicating that C6 aldehydes accumulated because of insufficient NADPH. When the leaves were exposed to higher doses of C6 aldehydes, however, a substantial fraction of C6 aldehydes persisted in the leaves and damaged them, indicating potential toxicity of C6 aldehydes to the leaf cells. Thus, the production of C6 aldehydes and their differential metabolisms in wounded leaves has dual benefits. In disrupted tissues, C6 aldehydes and their ?,?-unsaturated aldehyde derivatives accumulate to deter invaders. In intact cells, the aldehydes are reduced to minimize self-toxicity and allow healthy cells to survive. The metabolism of GLVs is thus efficiently designed to meet ecophysiological requirements of the microenvironments within a wounded leaf.

Plants provide multiple benefits for the production of biopharmaceuticals including low costs, scalability, and safety. Transient expression offers the additional advantage of short development and production times, but expression levels can vary significantly between batches thus giving rise to regulatory concerns in the context of good manufacturing practice. We used a design of experiments (DoE) approach to determine the impact of major factors such as regulatory elements in the expression construct, plant growth and development parameters, and the incubation conditions during expression, on the variability of expression between batches. We tested plants expressing a model anti-HIV monoclonal antibody (2G12) and a fluorescent marker protein (DsRed). We discuss the rationale for selecting certain properties of the model and identify its potential limitations. The general approach can easily be transferred to other problems because the principles of the model are broadly applicable: knowledge-based parameter selection, complexity reduction by splitting the initial problem into smaller modules, software-guided setup of optimal experiment combinations and step-wise design augmentation. Therefore, the methodology is not only useful for characterizing protein expression in plants but also for the investigation of other complex systems lacking a mechanistic description. The predictive equations describing the interconnectivity between parameters can be used to establish mechanistic models for other complex systems.

Stomata are natural openings in the plant epidermis responsible for gas exchange between plant interior and environment. They are formed by a pair of guard cells, which are able to close the stomatal pore in response to a number of external factors including light intensity, carbon dioxide concentration, and relative humidity (RH). The stomatal pore is also the main route for pathogen entry into leaves, a crucial step for disease development. Recent studies have unveiled that closure of the pore is effective in minimizing bacterial disease development in Arabidopsis plants; an integral part of plant innate immunity. Previously, we have used epidermal peels to assess stomatal response to live bacteria (Melotto et al. 2006); however maintaining favorable environmental conditions for both plant epidermal peels and bacterial cells has been challenging. Leaf epidermis can be kept alive and healthy with MES buffer (10 mM KCl, 25 mM MES-KOH, pH 6.15) for electrophysiological experiments of guard cells. However, this buffer is not appropriate for obtaining bacterial suspension. On the other hand, bacterial cells can be kept alive in water which is not proper to maintain epidermal peels for long period of times. When an epidermal peel floats on water, the cells in the peel that are exposed to air dry within 4 hours limiting the timing to conduct the experiment. An ideal method for assessing the effect of a particular stimulus on guard cells should present minimal interference to stomatal physiology and to the natural environment of the plant as much as possible. We, therefore, developed a new method to assess stomatal response to live bacteria in which leaf wounding and manipulation is greatly minimized aiming to provide an easily reproducible and reliable stomatal assay. The protocol is based on staining of intact leaf with propidium iodide (PI), incubation of staining leaf with bacterial suspension, and observation of leaves under laser scanning confocal microscope. Finally, this method allows for the observation of the same live leaf sample over extended periods of time using conditions that closely mimic the natural conditions under which plants are attacked by pathogens.

A Simple Method for Imaging Arabidopsis Leaves Using Perfluorodecalin as an Infiltrative Imaging Medium

Authors: George R. Littlejohn, John Love.

Institutions: The University of Exeter.

The problem of acquiring high-resolution images deep into biological samples is widely acknowledged1. In air-filled tissue such as the spongy mesophyll of plant leaves or vertebrate lungs further difficulties arise from multiple transitions in refractive index between cellular components, between cells and airspaces and between the biological tissue and the rest of the optical system. Moreover, refractive index mismatches lead to attenuation of fluorophore excitation and signal emission in fluorescence microscopy. We describe here the application of the perfluorocarbon, perfluorodecalin (PFD), as an infiltrative imaging medium which optically improves laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) sample imaging at depth, without resorting to damaging increases in laser power and has minimal physiological impact2. We describe the protocol for use of PFD with Arabidopsis thaliana leaf tissue, which is optically complex as a result of its structure (Figure 1). PFD has a number of attributes that make it suitable for this use3. The refractive index of PFD (1.313) is comparable with that of water (1.333) and is closer to that of cytosol (approx. 1.4) than air (1.000). In addition, PFD is readily available, non-fluorescent and is non-toxic. The low surface tension of PFD (19 dynes cm-1) is lower than that of water (72 dynes cm-1) and also below the limit (25 - 30 dyne cm-1) for stomatal penetration4, which allows it to flood the spongy mesophyll airspaces without the application of a potentially destructive vacuum or surfactant. Finally and crucially, PFD has a great capacity for dissolving CO2 and O2, which allows gas exchange to be maintained in the flooded tissue, thus minimizing the physiological impact on the sample. These properties have been used in various applications which include partial liquid breathing and lung inflation5,6, surgery7, artificial blood8, oxygenation of growth media9, and studies of ice crystal formation in plants10. Currently, it is common to mount tissue in water or aqueous buffer for live confocal imaging. We consider that the use of PFD as a mounting medium represents an improvement on existing practice and allows the simple preparation of live whole leaf samples for imaging.

Unsymmetrical 1,2-diols are hardly accessible by reductive pinacol coupling processes. A successful execution of such a transformation is bound to a clear recognition and strict differentiation of two similar carbonyl compounds (aldehydes → secondary 1,2-diols or ketones → tertiary 1,2-diols). This fine-tuning is still a challenge and an unsolved problem for an organic chemist. There exist several reports on successful execution of this transformation but they cannot be generalized. Herein we describe a catalytic direct pinacol coupling process which proceeds via a retropinacol/cross-pinacol coupling sequence. Thus, unsymmetrical substituted 1,2-diols can be accessed with almost quantitative yields by means of an operationally simple performance under very mild conditions. Artificial techniques, such as syringe-pump techniques or delayed additions of reactants are not necessary. The procedure we describe provides a very rapid access to cross-pinacol products (1,2-diols, vicinal diols). A further extension of this new process, e.g. an enantioselective performance could provide a very useful tool for the synthesis of unsymmetrical chiral 1,2-diols.

Some flax varieties respond to nutrient stress by modifying their genome and these modifications can be inherited through many generations. Also associated with these genomic changes are heritable phenotypic variations 1,2. The flax variety Stormont Cirrus (Pl) when grown under three different nutrient conditions can either remain inducible (under the control conditions), or become stably modified to either the large or small genotroph by growth under high or low nutrient conditions respectively. The lines resulting from the initial growth under each of these conditions appear to grow better when grown under the same conditions in subsequent generations, notably the Pl line grows best under the control treatment indicating that the plants growing under both the high and low nutrients are under stress. One of the genomic changes that are associated with the induction of heritable changes is the appearance of an insertion element (LIS-1) 3, 4 while the plants are growing under the nutrient stress. With respect to this insertion event, the flax variety Stormont Cirrus (Pl) when grown under three different nutrient conditions can either remain unchanged (under the control conditions), have the insertion appear in all the plants (under low nutrients) and have this transmitted to the next generation, or have the insertion (or parts of it) appear but not be transmitted through generations (under high nutrients) 4. The frequency of the appearance of this insertion indicates that it is under positive selection, which is also consistent with the growth response in subsequent generations. Leaves or meristems harvested at various stages of growth are used for DNA and RNA isolation. The RNA is used to identify variation in expression associated with the various growth environments and/or t he presence/absence of LIS-1. The isolated DNA is used to identify those plants in which the insertion has occurred.

In order to target a single protein to multiple subcellular organelles, plants typically duplicate the relevant genes, and express each gene separately using complex regulatory strategies including differential promoters and/or signal sequences. Metabolic engineers and synthetic biologists interested in targeting enzymes to a particular organelle are faced with a challenge: For a protein that is to be localized to more than one organelle, the engineer must clone the same gene multiple times. This work presents a solution to this strategy: harnessing alternative splicing of mRNA. This technology takes advantage of established chloroplast and peroxisome targeting sequences and combines them into a single mRNA that is alternatively spliced. Some splice variants are sent to the chloroplast, some to the peroxisome, and some to the cytosol. Here the system is designed for multiple-organelle targeting with alternative splicing. In this work, GFP was expected to be expressed in the chloroplast, cytosol, and peroxisome by a series of rationally designed 5’ mRNA tags. These tags have the potential to reduce the amount of cloning required when heterologous genes need to be expressed in multiple subcellular organelles. The constructs were designed in previous work11, and were cloned using Gibson assembly, a ligation independent cloning method that does not require restriction enzymes. The resultant plasmids were introduced into Nicotiana benthamiana epidermal leaf cells with a modified Gene Gun protocol. Finally, transformed leaves were observed with confocal microscopy.

Tracing rare stable isotopes from plant material through the ecosystem provides the most sensitive information about ecosystem processes; from CO2 fluxes and soil organic matter formation to small-scale stable-isotope biomarker probing. Coupling multiple stable isotopes such as 13C with 15N, 18O or 2H has the potential to reveal even more information about complex stoichiometric relationships during biogeochemical transformations. Isotope labeled plant material has been used in various studies of litter decomposition and soil organic matter formation1-4. From these and other studies, however, it has become apparent that structural components of plant material behave differently than metabolic components (i.e. leachable low molecular weight compounds) in terms of microbial utilization and long-term carbon storage5-7. The ability to study structural and metabolic components separately provides a powerful new tool for advancing the forefront of ecosystem biogeochemical studies. Here we describe a method for producing 13C and 15N labeled plant material that is either uniformly labeled throughout the plant or differentially labeled in structural and metabolic plant components.
Here, we present the construction and operation of a continuous 13C and 15N labeling chamber that can be modified to meet various research needs. Uniformly labeled plant material is produced by continuous labeling from seedling to harvest, while differential labeling is achieved by removing the growing plants from the chamber weeks prior to harvest. Representative results from growing Andropogon gerardii Kaw demonstrate the system's ability to efficiently label plant material at the targeted levels. Through this method we have produced plant material with a 4.4 atom%13C and 6.7 atom%15N uniform plant label, or material that is differentially labeled by up to 1.29 atom%13C and 0.56 atom%15N in its metabolic and structural components (hot water extractable and hot water residual components, respectively). Challenges lie in maintaining proper temperature, humidity, CO2 concentration, and light levels in an airtight 13C-CO2 atmosphere for successful plant production. This chamber description represents a useful research tool to effectively produce uniformly or differentially multi-isotope labeled plant material for use in experiments on ecosystem biogeochemical cycling.

After initiation of the leaf primordium, biomass accumulation is controlled mainly by cell proliferation and expansion in the leaves1. However, the Arabidopsis leaf is a complex organ made up of many different cell types and several structures. At the same time, the growing leaf contains cells at different stages of development, with the cells furthest from the petiole being the first to stop expanding and undergo senescence1. Different cells within the leaf are therefore dividing, elongating or differentiating; active, stressed or dead; and/or responding to stimuli in sub-sets of their cellular type at any one time. This makes genomic study of the leaf challenging: for example when analyzing expression data from whole leaves, signals from genetic networks operating in distinct cellular response zones or cell types will be confounded, resulting in an inaccurate profile being generated.
To address this, several methods have been described which enable studies of cell specific gene expression. These include laser-capture microdissection (LCM)2 or GFP expressing plants used for protoplast generation and subsequent fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS)3,4, the recently described INTACT system for nuclear precipitation5 and immunoprecipitation of polysomes6.
FACS has been successfully used for a number of studies, including showing that the cell identity and distance from the root tip had a significant effect on the expression profiles of a large number of genes3,7. FACS of GFP lines have also been used to demonstrate cell-specific transcriptional regulation during root nitrogen responses and lateral root development8, salt stress9 auxin distribution in the root10 and to create a gene expression map of the Arabidopsis shoot apical meristem11. Although FACS has previously been used to sort Arabidopsis leaf derived protoplasts based on autofluorescence12,13, so far the use of FACS on Arabidopsis lines expressing GFP in the leaves has been very limited4. In the following protocol we describe a method for obtaining Arabidopsis leaf protoplasts that are compatible with FACS while minimizing the impact of the protoplast generation regime. We demonstrate the method using the KC464 Arabidopsis line, which express GFP in the adaxial epidermis14, the KC274 line, which express GFP in the vascular tissue14 and the TP382 Arabidopsis line, which express a double GFP construct linked to a nuclear localization signal in the guard cells (data not shown; Figure 2). We are currently using this method to study both cell-type specific expression during development and stress, as well as heterogeneous cell populations at various stages of senescence.

Agroinfiltration and PVX agroinfection are two efficient transient expression assays for functional analysis of candidate genes in plants. The most commonly used agent for agroinfiltration is Agrobacterium tumefaciens, a pathogen of many dicot plant species. This implies that agroinfiltration can be applied to many plant species. Here, we present our protocols and expected results when applying these methods to the potato (Solanum tuberosum), its related wild tuber-bearing Solanum species (Solanum section Petota) and the model plant Nicotiana benthamiana. In addition to functional analysis of single genes, such as resistance (R) or avirulence (Avr) genes, the agroinfiltration assay is very suitable for recapitulating the R-AVR interactions associated with specific host pathogen interactions by simply delivering R and Avr transgenes into the same cell. However, some plant genotypes can raise nonspecific defense responses to Agrobacterium, as we observed for example for several potato genotypes. Compared to agroinfiltration, detection of AVR activity with PVX agroinfection is more sensitive, more high-throughput in functional screens and less sensitive to nonspecific defense responses to Agrobacterium. However, nonspecific defense to PVX can occur and there is a risk to miss responses due to virus-induced extreme resistance. Despite such limitations, in our experience, agroinfiltration and PVX agroinfection are both suitable and complementary assays that can be used simultaneously to confirm each other's results.

The purpose of this procedure is to infect the Aedes mosquito with dengue virus in a laboratory condition and examine the infection level and dynamic of the virus in the mosquito tissues. This protocol is routinely used for studying mosquito-virus interactions, especially for identification of novel host factors that are able to determine vector competence. The entire experiment must be conducted in a BSL2 laboratory. Similar to Plasmodium falciparum infections, proper attire including gloves and lab coat must be worn at all times. After the experiment, all the materials that came in contact with the virus need to be treated with 75% ethanol and bleached before proceeding with normal washing. All other materials need to be autoclaved before discarding them.

Woody materials are comprised of plant cell walls that contain a layered secondary cell wall composed of structural polymers of polysaccharides and lignin. Layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly process which relies on the assembly of oppositely charged molecules from aqueous solutions was used to build a freestanding composite film of isolated wood polymers of lignin and oxidized nanofibril cellulose (NFC). To facilitate the assembly of these negatively charged polymers, a positively charged polyelectrolyte, poly(diallyldimethylammomium chloride) (PDDA), was used as a linking layer to create this simplified model cell wall. The layered adsorption process was studied quantitatively using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) and ellipsometry. The results showed that layer mass/thickness per adsorbed layer increased as a function of total number of layers. The surface coverage of the adsorbed layers was studied with atomic force microscopy (AFM). Complete coverage of the surface with lignin in all the deposition cycles was found for the system, however, surface coverage by NFC increased with the number of layers. The adsorption process was carried out for 250 cycles (500 bilayers) on a cellulose acetate (CA) substrate. Transparent free-standing LBL assembled nanocomposite films were obtained when the CA substrate was later dissolved in acetone. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the fractured cross-sections showed a lamellar structure, and the thickness per adsorption cycle (PDDA-Lignin-PDDA-NC) was estimated to be 17 nm for two different lignin types used in the study. The data indicates a film with highly controlled architecture where nanocellulose and lignin are spatially deposited on the nanoscale (a polymer-polymer nanocomposites), similar to what is observed in the native cell wall.

Many proteins interact transiently with other proteins or are integrated into multi-protein complexes to perform their biological function. Bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) is an in vivo method to monitor such interactions in plant cells. In the presented protocol the investigated candidate proteins are fused to complementary halves of fluorescent proteins and the respective constructs are introduced into plant cells via agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Subsequently, the proteins are transiently expressed in tobacco leaves and the restored fluorescent signals can be detected with a confocal laser scanning microscope in the intact cells. This allows not only visualization of the interaction itself, but also the subcellular localization of the protein complexes can be determined. For this purpose, marker genes containing a fluorescent tag can be coexpressed along with the BiFC constructs, thus visualizing cellular structures such as the endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, the Golgi apparatus or the plasma membrane. The fluorescent signal can be monitored either directly in epidermal leaf cells or in single protoplasts, which can be easily isolated from the transformed tobacco leaves. BiFC is ideally suited to study protein-protein interactions in their natural surroundings within the living cell. However, it has to be considered that the expression has to be driven by strong promoters and that the interaction partners are modified due to fusion of the relatively large fluorescence tags, which might interfere with the interaction mechanism. Nevertheless, BiFC is an excellent complementary approach to other commonly applied methods investigating protein-protein interactions, such as coimmunoprecipitation, in vitro pull-down assays or yeast-two-hybrid experiments.

Institutions: Delft University of Technology, Delft University of Technology.

This work puts forward a toolkit that enables the conversion of alkanes by Escherichia coli and presents a proof of principle of its applicability. The toolkit consists of multiple standard interchangeable parts (BioBricks)9 addressing the conversion of alkanes, regulation of gene expression and survival in toxic hydrocarbon-rich environments.
A three-step pathway for alkane degradation was implemented in E. coli to enable the conversion of medium- and long-chain alkanes to their respective alkanols, alkanals and ultimately alkanoic-acids. The latter were metabolized via the native β-oxidation pathway. To facilitate the oxidation of medium-chain alkanes (C5-C13) and cycloalkanes (C5-C8), four genes (alkB2, rubA3, rubA4and rubB) of the alkane hydroxylase system from Gordonia sp. TF68,21 were transformed into E. coli. For the conversion of long-chain alkanes (C15-C36), theladA gene from Geobacillus thermodenitrificans was implemented. For the required further steps of the degradation process, ADH and ALDH (originating from G. thermodenitrificans) were introduced10,11. The activity was measured by resting cell assays. For each oxidative step, enzyme activity was observed.
To optimize the process efficiency, the expression was only induced under low glucose conditions: a substrate-regulated promoter, pCaiF, was used. pCaiF is present in E. coli K12 and regulates the expression of the genes involved in the degradation of non-glucose carbon sources.
The last part of the toolkit - targeting survival - was implemented using solvent tolerance genes, PhPFDα and β, both from Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3. Organic solvents can induce cell stress and decreased survivability by negatively affecting protein folding. As chaperones, PhPFDα and β improve the protein folding process e.g. under the presence of alkanes. The expression of these genes led to an improved hydrocarbon tolerance shown by an increased growth rate (up to 50%) in the presences of 10% n-hexane in the culture medium were observed.
Summarizing, the results indicate that the toolkit enables E. coli to convert and tolerate hydrocarbons in aqueous environments. As such, it represents an initial step towards a sustainable solution for oil-remediation using a synthetic biology approach.

Collection and Analysis of Arabidopsis Phloem Exudates Using the EDTA-facilitated Method

Authors: Olena Tetyuk, Urs F. Benning, Susanne Hoffmann-Benning.

Institutions: Michigan State Universtiy.

The plant phloem is essential for the long-distance transport of (photo-) assimilates as well as of signals conveying biotic or abiotic stress. It contains sugars, amino acids, proteins, RNA, lipids and other metabolites. While there is a large interest in understanding the composition and function of the phloem, the role of many of these molecules and thus, their importance in plant development and stress response has yet to be determined. One barrier to phloem analysis lies in the fact that the phloem seals itself upon wounding. As a result, the number of plants from which phloem sap can be obtained is limited. One method that allows collection of phloem exudates from several plant species without added equipment is the EDTA-facilitated phloem exudate collection described here. While it is easy to use, it does lead to the wounding of cells and care has to be taken to remove contents of damaged cells. In addition, several controls to prove purity of the exudate are necessary. Because it is an exudation rather than a direct collection of the phloem sap (not possible in many species) only relative quantification of its contents can occur. The advantage of this method over others is that it can be used in many herbaceous or woody plant species (Perilla, Arabidopsis, poplar, etc.) and requires minimal equipment and training. It leads to reasonably large amounts of exudates that can be used for subsequent analysis of proteins, sugars, lipids, RNA, viruses and metabolites. It is simple enough that it can be used in both a research as well as in a teaching laboratory.

Institutions: University of Arizona, Michigan State University, The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, Michigan State University.

To facilitate the use of lignocellulosic biomass as an alternative bioenergy resource, during biological conversion processes, a pretreatment step is needed to open up the structure of the plant cell wall, increasing the accessibility of the cell wall carbohydrates. Lignin, a polyphenolic material present in many cell wall types, is known to be a significant hindrance to enzyme access. Reduction in lignin content to a level that does not interfere with the structural integrity and defense system of the plant might be a valuable step to reduce the costs of bioethanol production. In this study, we have genetically down-regulated one of the lignin biosynthesis-related genes, cinnamoyl-CoA reductase (ZmCCR1) via a double stranded RNA interference technique. The ZmCCR1_RNAi construct was integrated into the maize genome using the particle bombardment method. Transgenic maize plants grew normally as compared to the wild-type control plants without interfering with biomass growth or defense mechanisms, with the exception of displaying of brown-coloration in transgenic plants leaf mid-ribs, husks, and stems. The microscopic analyses, in conjunction with the histological assay, revealed that the leaf sclerenchyma fibers were thinned but the structure and size of other major vascular system components was not altered. The lignin content in the transgenic maize was reduced by 7-8.7%, the crystalline cellulose content was increased in response to lignin reduction, and hemicelluloses remained unchanged. The analyses may indicate that carbon flow might have been shifted from lignin biosynthesis to cellulose biosynthesis. This article delineates the procedures used to down-regulate the lignin content in maize via RNAi technology, and the cell wall compositional analyses used to verify the effect of the modifications on the cell wall structure.

Mammalian cell culture is the major platform for commercial production of human vaccines and therapeutic proteins. However, it cannot meet the increasing worldwide demand for pharmaceuticals due to its limited scalability and high cost. Plants have shown to be one of the most promising alternative pharmaceutical production platforms that are robust, scalable, low-cost and safe. The recent development of virus-based vectors has allowed rapid and high-level transient expression of recombinant proteins in plants. To further optimize the utility of the transient expression system, we demonstrate a simple, efficient and scalable methodology to introduce target-gene containing Agrobacterium into plant tissue in this study. Our results indicate that agroinfiltration with both syringe and vacuum methods have resulted in the efficient introduction of Agrobacterium into leaves and robust production of two fluorescent proteins; GFP and DsRed. Furthermore, we demonstrate the unique advantages offered by both methods. Syringe infiltration is simple and does not need expensive equipment. It also allows the flexibility to either infiltrate the entire leave with one target gene, or to introduce genes of multiple targets on one leaf. Thus, it can be used for laboratory scale expression of recombinant proteins as well as for comparing different proteins or vectors for yield or expression kinetics. The simplicity of syringe infiltration also suggests its utility in high school and college education for the subject of biotechnology. In contrast, vacuum infiltration is more robust and can be scaled-up for commercial manufacture of pharmaceutical proteins. It also offers the advantage of being able to agroinfiltrate plant species that are not amenable for syringe infiltration such as lettuce and Arabidopsis. Overall, the combination of syringe and vacuum agroinfiltration provides researchers and educators a simple, efficient, and robust methodology for transient protein expression. It will greatly facilitate the development of pharmaceutical proteins and promote science education.

Optimization and Utilization of Agrobacterium-mediated Transient Protein Production in Nicotiana

Authors: Moneim Shamloul, Jason Trusa, Vadim Mett, Vidadi Yusibov.

Institutions: Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology.

Agrobacterium-mediated transient protein production in plants is a promising approach to produce vaccine antigens and therapeutic proteins within a short period of time. However, this technology is only just beginning to be applied to large-scale production as many technological obstacles to scale up are now being overcome. Here, we demonstrate a simple and reproducible method for industrial-scale transient protein production based on vacuum infiltration of Nicotiana plants with Agrobacteria carrying launch vectors. Optimization of Agrobacterium cultivation in AB medium allows direct dilution of the bacterial culture in Milli-Q water, simplifying the infiltration process. Among three tested species of Nicotiana, N. excelsiana (N. benthamiana × N. excelsior) was selected as the most promising host due to the ease of infiltration, high level of reporter protein production, and about two-fold higher biomass production under controlled environmental conditions. Induction of Agrobacterium harboring pBID4-GFP (Tobacco mosaic virus-based) using chemicals such as acetosyringone and monosaccharide had no effect on the protein production level. Infiltrating plant under 50 to 100 mbar for 30 or 60 sec resulted in about 95% infiltration of plant leaf tissues. Infiltration with Agrobacterium laboratory strain GV3101 showed the highest protein production compared to Agrobacteria laboratory strains LBA4404 and C58C1 and wild-type Agrobacteria strains at6, at10, at77 and A4. Co-expression of a viral RNA silencing suppressor, p23 or p19, in N. benthamiana resulted in earlier accumulation and increased production (15-25%) of target protein (influenza virus hemagglutinin).

Institutions: University of Tennessee, Knoxville, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Since the 1940s transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has been providing biologists with ultra-high resolution images of biological materials. Yet, because of laborious and time-consuming protocols that also demand experience in preparation of artifact-free samples, TEM is not considered a user-friendly technique. Traditional sample preparation for TEM used chemical fixatives to preserve cellular structures. High-pressure freezing is the cryofixation of biological samples under high pressures to produce very fast cooling rates, thereby restricting ice formation, which is detrimental to the integrity of cellular ultrastructure. High-pressure freezing and freeze substitution are currently the methods of choice for producing the highest quality morphology in resin sections for TEM. These methods minimize the artifacts normally associated with conventional processing for TEM of thin sections. After cryofixation the frozen water in the sample is replaced with liquid organic solvent at low temperatures, a process called freeze substitution. Freeze substitution is typically carried out over several days in dedicated, costly equipment. A recent innovation allows the process to be completed in three hours, instead of the usual two days. This is typically followed by several more days of sample preparation that includes infiltration and embedding in epoxy resins before sectioning. Here we present a protocol combining high-pressure freezing and quick freeze substitution that enables plant sample fixation to be accomplished within hours. The protocol can readily be adapted for working with other tissues or organisms. Plant tissues are of special concern because of the presence of aerated spaces and water-filled vacuoles that impede ice-free freezing of water. In addition, the process of chemical fixation is especially long in plants due to cell walls impeding the penetration of the chemicals to deep within the tissues. Plant tissues are therefore particularly challenging, but this protocol is reliable and produces samples of the highest quality.

Fluorescence Microscopy Methods for Determining the Viability of Bacteria in Association with Mammalian Cells

Authors: M. Brittany Johnson, Alison K. Criss.

Institutions: University of Virginia Health Sciences Center.

Central to the field of bacterial pathogenesis is the ability to define if and how microbes survive after exposure to eukaryotic cells. Current protocols to address these questions include colony count assays, gentamicin protection assays, and electron microscopy. Colony count and gentamicin protection assays only assess the viability of the entire bacterial population and are unable to determine individual bacterial viability. Electron microscopy can be used to determine the viability of individual bacteria and provide information regarding their localization in host cells. However, bacteria often display a range of electron densities, making assessment of viability difficult. This article outlines protocols for the use of fluorescent dyes that reveal the viability of individual bacteria inside and associated with host cells. These assays were developed originally to assess survival of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in primary human neutrophils, but should be applicable to any bacterium-host cell interaction. These protocols combine membrane-permeable fluorescent dyes (SYTO9 and 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole [DAPI]), which stain all bacteria, with membrane-impermeable fluorescent dyes (propidium iodide and SYTOX Green), which are only accessible to nonviable bacteria. Prior to eukaryotic cell permeabilization, an antibody or fluorescent reagent is added to identify extracellular bacteria. Thus these assays discriminate the viability of bacteria adherent to and inside eukaryotic cells. A protocol is also provided for using the viability dyes in combination with fluorescent antibodies to eukaryotic cell markers, in order to determine the subcellular localization of individual bacteria. The bacterial viability dyes discussed in this article are a sensitive complement and/or alternative to traditional microbiology techniques to evaluate the viability of individual bacteria and provide information regarding where bacteria survive in host cells.

Mast cells play important roles in allergic disease and immune defense against parasites. Once activated (e.g. by an allergen), they degranulate, a process that results in the exocytosis of allergic mediators. Modulation of mast cell degranulation by drugs and toxicants may have positive or adverse effects on human health. Mast cell function has been dissected in detail with the use of rat basophilic leukemia mast cells (RBL-2H3), a widely accepted model of human mucosal mast cells3-5. Mast cell granule component and the allergic mediator β-hexosaminidase, which is released linearly in tandem with histamine from mast cells6, can easily and reliably be measured through reaction with a fluorogenic substrate, yielding measurable fluorescence intensity in a microplate assay that is amenable to high-throughput studies1. Originally published by Naal et al.1, we have adapted this degranulation assay for the screening of drugs and toxicants and demonstrate its use here.
Triclosan is a broad-spectrum antibacterial agent that is present in many consumer products and has been found to be a therapeutic aid in human allergic skin disease7-11, although the mechanism for this effect is unknown. Here we demonstrate an assay for the effect of triclosan on mast cell degranulation. We recently showed that triclosan strongly affects mast cell function2. In an effort to avoid use of an organic solvent, triclosan is dissolved directly into aqueous buffer with heat and stirring, and resultant concentration is confirmed using UV-Vis spectrophotometry (using ε280 = 4,200 L/M/cm)12. This protocol has the potential to be used with a variety of chemicals to determine their effects on mast cell degranulation, and more broadly, their allergic potential.

Herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) are commonly emitted from plants after herbivore attack1,2. These HIPVs are mainly regulated by the defensive plant hormone jasmonic acid (JA) and its volatile derivative methyl jasmonate (MeJA)3,4,5. Over the past 3 decades researchers have documented that HIPVs can repel or attract herbivores, attract the natural enemies of herbivores, and in some cases they can induce or prime plant defenses prior to herbivore attack. In a recent paper6, I reported that feeding by gypsy moth caterpillars, exogenous MeJA application, and mechanical damage induce the emissions of volatiles from blueberry plants, albeit differently. In addition, blueberry branches respond to HIPVs emitted from neighboring branches of the same plant by increasing the levels of JA and resistance to herbivores (i.e., direct plant defenses), and by priming volatile emissions (i.e., indirect plant defenses). Similar findings have been reported recently for sagebrush7, poplar8, and lima beans9..
Here, I describe a push-pull method for collecting blueberry volatiles induced by herbivore (gypsy moth) feeding, exogenous MeJA application, and mechanical damage. The volatile collection unit consists of a 4 L volatile collection chamber, a 2-piece guillotine, an air delivery system that purifies incoming air, and a vacuum system connected to a trap filled with Super-Q adsorbent to collect volatiles5,6,10. Volatiles collected in Super-Q traps are eluted with dichloromethane and then separated and quantified using Gas Chromatography (GC). This volatile collection method was used n my study6 to investigate the volatile response of undamaged branches to exposure to volatiles from herbivore-damaged branches within blueberry plants. These methods are described here. Briefly, undamaged blueberry branches are exposed to HIPVs from neighboring branches within the same plant. Using the same techniques described above, volatiles emitted from branches after exposure to HIPVs are collected and analyzed.

Isolation of Protoplasts from Tissues of 14-day-old Seedlings of Arabidopsis thaliana

Authors: Zhiyang Zhai, Ha-il Jung, Olena K. Vatamaniuk.

Institutions: Cornell University.

Protoplasts are plant cells that have had their cell walls enzymatically removed. Isolation of protoplasts from different plant tissues was first reported more than 40 years ago 1 and has since been adapted to study a variety of cellular processes, such as subcellular localization of proteins, isolation of intact organelles and targeted gene-inactivation by double stranded RNA interference (RNAi) 2-5. Most of the protoplast isolation protocols use leaf tissues of mature Arabidopsis (e.g. 35-day-old plants) 2-4. We modified existing protocols by employing 14-day-old Arabidopsis seedlings. In this procedure, one gram of 14-day-old seedlings yielded 5 106-107 protoplasts that remain intact at least 96 hours. The yield of protoplasts from seedlings is comparable with preparations from leaves of mature Arabidopsis, but instead of 35-36 days, isolation of protoplasts is completed in 15 days. This allows decreasing the time and growth chamber space that are required for isolating protoplasts when mature plants are used, and expedites the downstream studies that require intact protoplasts.

Choice and No-Choice Assays for Testing the Resistance of A. thaliana to Chewing Insects

Authors: Martin De Vos, Georg Jander.

Institutions: Cornell University.

Larvae of the small white cabbage butterfly are a pest in agricultural settings. This caterpillar species feeds from plants in the cabbage family, which include many crops such as cabbage, broccoli, Brussel sprouts etc. Rearing of the insects takes place on cabbage plants in the greenhouse. At least two cages are needed for the rearing of Pieris rapae. One for the larvae and the other to contain the adults, the butterflies. In order to investigate the role of plant hormones and toxic plant chemicals in resistance to this insect pest, we demonstrate two experiments. First, determination of the role of jasmonic acid (JA - a plant hormone often indicated in resistance to insects) in resistance to the chewing insect Pieris rapae. Caterpillar growth can be compared on wild-type and mutant plants impaired in production of JA. This experiment is considered "No Choice", because larvae are forced to subsist on a single plant which synthesizes or is deficient in JA. Second, we demonstrate an experiment that investigates the role of glucosinolates, which are used as oviposition (egg-laying) signals. Here, we use WT and mutant Arabidopsis impaired in glucosinolate production in a "Choice" experiment in which female butterflies are allowed to choose to lay their eggs on plants of either genotype. This video demonstrates the experimental setup for both assays as well as representative results.

Testing the Physiological Barriers to Viral Transmission in Aphids Using Microinjection

Authors: Cecilia Tamborindeguy, Stewart Gray, Georg Jander.

Institutions: Cornell University, Cornell University.

Potato loafroll virus (PLRV), from the family Luteoviridae infects solanaceous plants. It is transmitted by aphids, primarily, the green peach aphid. When an uninfected aphid feeds on an infected plant it contracts the virus through the plant phloem. Once ingested, the virus must pass from the insect gut to the hemolymph (the insect blood ) and then must pass through the salivary gland, in order to be transmitted back to a new plant. An aphid may take up different viruses when munching on a plant, however only a small fraction will pass through the gut and salivary gland, the two main barriers for transmission to infect more plants. In the lab, we use physalis plants to study PLRV transmission. In this host, symptoms are characterized by stunting and interveinal chlorosis (yellowing of the leaves between the veins with the veins remaining green). The video that we present demonstrates a method for performing aphid microinjection on insects that do not vector PLVR viruses and tests whether the gut is preventing viral transmission.
The video that we present demonstrates a method for performing Aphid microinjection on insects that do not vector PLVR viruses and tests whether the gut or salivary gland is preventing viral transmission.

Institutions: University of British Columbia - UBC, University of British Columbia - UBC.

The plant cuticle is a waxy outer covering on plants that has a primary role in water conservation, but is also an important barrier against the entry of pathogenic microorganisms. The cuticle is made up of a tough crosslinked polymer called "cutin" and a protective wax layer that seals the plant surface. The waxy layer of the cuticle is obvious on many plants, appearing as a shiny film on the ivy leaf or as a dusty outer covering on the surface of a grape or a cabbage leaf thanks to light scattering crystals present in the wax. Because the cuticle is an essential adaptation of plants to a terrestrial environment, understanding the genes involved in plant cuticle formation has applications in both agriculture and forestry. Today, we'll show the analysis of plant cuticle mutants identified by forward and reverse genetics approaches.

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